REVIEWS. 
83 
Darwin justly remarks, to warrant us in inferring that the plants referred 
to derive some great advantage from the process of cross-fertilization, and 
his present book is a record of the long series of experiments that he has 
undertaken with the purpose of ascertaining whether any such advantage 
does accrue to the plants by intercrossing, and if so, of what nature it may 
he. We may add that, from his observations, he is inclined to adopt for 
plants in general the aphoristic statement in which he summed up the results 
of his investigations of the Orchids : u Nature abhors perpetual self-fertili- 
zation ; ” but at the same time he by no means claims to be the absolute 
originator of this notion, which occurred to Andrew Knight as long ago as 
1799, when he said: “ Nature intended that asexual intercourse should take 
place between neighbouring plants of the same species;” and subsequently 
both Kolreuter and Herbert entertained somewhat similar views. Still 
earlier, in 1793, C. K. Sprengel seems to have had an indistinct prevision 
of the prevalence of some such law as that enunciated by Darwin. 
It would be impossible, without devoting to it more space than we have 
at command, to give anything in the shape of an analysis of the results 
published by Mr. Darwin in his present book, which is a wonderful record 
of patient investigation, directed by an intelligence of so high an order that 
one feels surprised, notwithstanding what we already know of Mr. Darwin’s 
work, to see the two qualities involved in carrying on the researches and 
generalizing their results so strikingly combined in the same individual. 
Cross and self-fertilizations of innumerable flowers had to be effected, the 
seeds to be sown, the plants kept distinct, measured and weighed, and all 
these processes were continued in many cases through several generations, 
and the whole of the results obtained were then tabulated in such a manner 
as to show the evidence furnished by them for or against the opinion which 
the distinguished naturalist was desirous of testing. With but few exceptions 
the plants raised from cross-fertilized seeds had, as Mr. Darwin expected, 
an advantage, and often a considerable one, over those which sprung from 
seeds fertilized by the pollen of their own flower ; but for the particulars of 
the experiments, many of which, having been made upon common garden 
plants, may easily be repeated by any one who feels an interest in such 
researches, we must refer our readers to the book itself. Many important 
observations are scattered through the volume, and the summary contained 
in the last four chapters is of great interest even to those who will not 
be at the trouble of studying the mass of facts given in the body of the 
book. 
BRITISH FUNGI.* 
T HAT a third edition of Mr. Cooke’s “ British Fungi ’’ has been called for 
is most certainly a matter for congratulation, as it is an indication that 
there must be an increasing number of people to whom the study of plants, 
as something more than pretty things, is of interest. This new edition has 
undergone but little alteration, but the text furnishes a good populariaccount 
* u A Plain and Easy Account of British Fungi, with especial Deference 
to the Esculent and Economic Species.” By M. C. Cooke, M.A., LL D. 
Third Edition, Revised. London : Hardwicke & Bogue. 1876. 
